Recently, 70 congressional Republicans appropriated a whopping $375 million for a new FBI headquarters. And just last week, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) voted out a bill reauthorizing Section 702 that expands the reach of the FBI’s surveillance. The new bill, just like all the bills before it, fails to create an effective remedy for Americans unjustly targeted and destroyed by FBI surveillance. The FBI bootlicking is completely bipartisan despite (or, perhaps, because of?) known FBI surveillance of members of Congress.

Those looking for a single moment that demonstrates the FBI’s ability to abuse the powerful surveillance tools authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), need only to think back to August 2020 and the actions of former FBI attorney, Kevin Clinesmith. Shortly before pleading guilty to falsifying an email designed to continue the politically motivated warrant used to spy on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page, Clinesmith’s attorney released a statement implicating both Clinesmith and Clinesmith’s entire supervisory chain.

Under constitutional principles, the FBI cannot conduct an intrusive search if a less intrusive way of obtaining the same information exists. The FBI wanted the warrant on Page as an excuse to spy on Trump. It would use Page’s contacts with the campaign as a window to snoop.

Thus, when Page publicized his history of voluntarily providing reliable information to another government agency (the CIA) about the same Russian contacts the FBI used as a pretext for spying in this case, it endangered the entire legal justification for spying on Trump. Clinesmith asked the CIA if Page had acted as a CIA source. The CIA responded affirmatively. Instead of doing the right thing, however, the FBI decided to lie to the court by altering the email to make it appear as though the agency denied Page was a source. Even though it appears Clinesmith was a rabid anti-Trump partisan and was eager to participate in this charade, he was also smart enough to keep an insurance policy.  So, according to The New York Times, “Clinesmith … provided the unchanged C.I.A. email to Crossfire Hurricane agents and the Justice Department lawyer drafting the original wiretap application.” 

There is no more serious violation of a government attorney’s responsibilities than lying to a court in order to violate an American citizen’s constitutional rights. The deception violates the “Candor to Tribunal” rule in the code of professional conduct, and the oath of office every federal employee takes to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Perhaps because Clinesmith had the forethought to send senior FBI officials both versions of the doctored email, Clinesmith received astonishingly gentle treatment. For instance, he continued working for the government for almost two years after committing the criminal act. And, when he did face consequences to his license to practice law, the bars of two states reinstated him after a short suspension.

The bottom line is that the FBI and the Justice Department continue to protect the supervisors and agents involved in the deception. This isn’t a problem with the rules. It’s a problem with the design of the remedies. There are none. Carter Page sued the government for the obvious violation of his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. A federal judge known for decisions friendly to the government dismissed his lawsuit last year. 

It gets worse than that. Not only did the FBI lie to the FISA court so it could spy on the Trump campaign, it also passed information to the Clinton campaign via her subcontractor Christopher Steele. Often overlooked in the 2019 OIG report on the matter is this passage on pages 108-109 regarding an October 2016 meeting between the FBI and Clinton’s subcontractor,

According to Case Agent 2’s written summary of the meeting, Case Agent 2 provided Steele with a ‘general overview’ of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which included a description of events involving Papadopoulos and the Friendly Foreign Government (FFG) information that furnished the predication for the investigation. Case Agent 2’s written summary also states that Case Agent 2 informed Steele that Papadopoulos’s actions had resulted in a ‘small analytical effort’ that had expanded to include Manafort, Flynn, and Carter Page.

Steele told the FBI that he worked for people who wanted to stop Trump from being elected. He told the OIG that during the October 2016 meeting, the FBI indicated that they wanted to take over the “election project,” and control it. (See page 112). Steele told the truth about working for people who wanted to stop Trump from getting elected. He worked for Fusion GPS which was hired by Hillary Clinton’s lawyer, Michael Sussman. In case you don’t recall, Special Counsel John Durham unsuccessfully prosecuted Sussman for his role in the matter.

In other words, the FBI got caught using FISA to spy on the Trump campaign and then coordinated its investigation with the Clinton campaign. Do you think “coordinated” is too strong of a word? Michael Sussman had a badge that granted him come-and-go access to the FBI building while the Crossfire Hurricane project was underway. Can there be a greater abuse of the Constitution and the public’s right to a free and fair election? 

FBI critics point to the bureau’s long history of using blackmail to expand its power question whether traditional law enforcement is or has ever been the primary business work product there. Many have questioned why the FBI has not used the Jeffrey Epstein records in its possession to prosecute the dead child exploiter’s client list. Instead of prosecuting these abusers of children, the FBI has obviously found something it would rather do with the material. Critics also recall then FBI Director James Comey appeared to have attempted to blackmail the new President Trump with the Steele dossier material. We recently learned that as Congress uncovered the Crossfire Hurricane FBI misconduct, the FBI launched a surveillance campaign against its congressional overseers and some of their family members. And, as I have written before, there are precious few or no known examples of FISA searches leading to the conviction of criminals. Why do we continue to feed the blackmail machine with taxpayer-funded surveillance? 

Every half-decade or so, the FBI and the Justice Department rewrite the FISA rules to try to reform them for the purpose of safeguarding civil liberties. But these reforms have never mattered since no one gets punished for breaking them.  What is new is that the FBI is now overtly taking sides against the current president’s chief political opponent. It used FISA to help the Clinton campaign against Trump and interfere in the peaceful transition of power. And now, inexplicably, congressional Republicans continue to support this corrupt institution. 

The fact that the FBI has mastered the art of intimidating elected leaders delegitimizes the FBI’s power as a product of the consent of the governed. It now wields power like an occupying army, ruling with force and fear. Concerned Americans should take note of the members of Congress who cast votes that continue to enable the FBI’s legal authority to spy on Americans.